As the head of Forrest Hill Academy, Tricia Rock (pictured at right, with student) is a principal whose job it is to get her students out of her school even sooner than usual. And by measurable data, she’s getting really good and getting her students out – and back into the “home” schools that sent them to Forrest Hill in the first place. That’s because Forrest Hill is an alternative school inside Atlanta Public Schools whose main mission to take students with any number of challenges – usually behavioral – and help them transition back to their home school and hopefully graduate.
The 2009-10 school year marks the second for Principal Rock and the first since APS reassumed complete control over the school, and the change has been remarkable. According to Rock, of the 180 Forrest Hill students who were returned to their home schools in December, only 6 percent were returned to Forrest Hill. Previously, 50 percent of the students were returned. Both of the school’s juniors passed the Georgia High School Graduation Writing Test, while the middle-schoolers enjoyed a 30 percent pass rate on the state writing scores. And perhaps more to the point with Forrest Hill, disciplinary actions decreased by 40 percent from the previous year, Rock said.